Free will is a cornerstone of Jewish thought from the very get-go. And from the very get-go it is presented as a paradox.
The Hebrew Bible opens with G‑d calling heaven and earth into being out of the absolute void.1 There’s an implication hidden there: that the very substance of each thing is nothing other than G‑d’s will that it exist. Things happen only because He says they should happen.
Yet the final and ultimate creation of this all-powerful Creator is a creature that can choose whether to do its Creator’s will—or otherwise. Namely, us, the human being.
And not by some Frankensteinian blunder. By deliberate intent.
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Published with permission from Chabad.org.
